Acoustic filters with shared acoustic tracks for series and shunt resonators

ABSTRACT

Acoustic filters devices and methods of making the same. A filter device includes a first plurality of acoustic resonators including at least one first series resonator and at least one first shunt resonator. The at least one first series resonator and the at least one first shunt resonator are acoustically coupled along a first shared acoustic track.

RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION

This patent is a continuation-in-part of application 17/460,095, filed Aug. 27, 2021, entitled ACOUSTIC FILTERS WITH SHARED ACOUSTIC TRACKS, which claim priority to provisional patent application no. 63/165,359, filed Mar. 24, 2021, entitled ACOUSTIC FILTERS WITH SHARED ACOUSTIC TRACKS. All of these applications are incorporated herein by reference.

NOTICE OF COPYRIGHTS AND TRADE DRESS

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. This patent document may show and/or describe matter which is or may become trade dress of the owner. The copyright and trade dress owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright and trade dress rights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND Field

This disclosure relates to radio frequency filters using acoustic wave resonators, and specifically to filters for use in communications equipment.

Description of the Related Art

A radio frequency (RF) filter is a two-port device configured to pass some frequencies and to stop other frequencies, where “pass” means transmit with relatively low signal loss and “stop” means block or substantially attenuate. The range of frequencies passed by a filter is referred to as the “pass-band” of the filter. The range of frequencies stopped by such a filter is referred to as the “stop-band” of the filter. A typical RF filter has at least one pass-band and at least one stop-band. Specific requirements on a pass-band or stop-band depend on the application. For example, a “pass-band” may be defined as a frequency range where the insertion loss of a filter is better than a defined value such as 1 dB, 2 dB, or 3 dB. A “stop-band” may be defined as a frequency range where the rejection of a filter is greater than a defined value such as 20 dB, 30 dB, 40 dB, or greater depending on application.

RF filters are used in communications systems where information is transmitted over wireless links. For example, RF filters may be found in the RF front-ends of cellular base stations, mobile telephone and computing devices, satellite transceivers and ground stations, IoT (Internet of Things) devices, laptop computers and tablets, fixed point radio links, and other communications systems. RF filters are also used in radar and electronic and information warfare systems.

RF filters typically require many design trade-offs to achieve, for each specific application, the best compromise between performance parameters such as insertion loss, rejection, isolation, power handling, linearity, size and cost. Specific design and manufacturing methods and enhancements can benefit simultaneously one or several of these requirements.

Performance enhancements to the RF filters in a wireless system can have broad impact to system performance. Improvements in RF filters can be leveraged to provide system performance improvements such as larger cell size, longer battery life, higher data rates, greater network capacity, lower cost, enhanced security, higher reliability, etc. These improvements can be realized at many levels of the wireless system both separately and in combination, for example at the RF module, RF transceiver, mobile or fixed sub-system, or network levels.

High performance RF filters for present communication systems commonly incorporate acoustic wave resonators including surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators, bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonators, film bulk acoustic wave resonators (FBAR), and other types of acoustic resonators. However, these existing technologies are not well-suited for use at the higher frequencies and bandwidths proposed for future communications networks.

The desire for wider communication channel bandwidths will inevitably lead to the use of higher frequency communications bands. Radio access technology for mobile telephone networks has been standardized by the 3GPP (3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project). Radio access technology for 5^(th) generation (5G) mobile networks is defined in the 5G NR (new radio) standard. The 5G NR standard defines several new communications bands. Two of these new communications bands are n77, which uses the frequency range from 3300 MHz to 4200 MHz, and n79, which uses the frequency range from 4400 MHz to 5000 MHz. Both band n77 and band n79 use time-division duplexing (TDD), such that a communications device operating in band n77 and/or band n79 use the same frequencies for both uplink and downlink transmissions. Bandpass filters for bands n77 and n79 must be capable of handling the transmit power of the communications device. WiFi bands at 5 GHz and 6 GHz also require high frequency and wide bandwidth. The 5 G NR standard also defines millimeter wave communication bands with frequencies between 24.25 GHz and 40 GHz.

The Transversely-Excited Film Bulk Acoustic Resonator (XBAR) is an acoustic resonator structure for use in microwave filters. The XBAR is described in patent U.S. Pat. No. 10,491,291, titled TRANSVERSELY EXCITED FILM BULK ACOUSTIC RESONATOR. An XBAR resonator comprises an interdigital transducer (IDT) formed on a thin floating layer, or diaphragm, of a single-crystal piezoelectric material. The IDT includes a first set of parallel fingers, extending from a first busbar and a second set of parallel fingers extending from a second busbar. The first and second sets of parallel fingers are interleaved. A microwave signal applied to the IDT excites a shear primary acoustic wave in the piezoelectric diaphragm. XBAR resonators provide very high electromechanical coupling and high frequency capability. XBAR resonators may be used in a variety of RF filters including band-reject filters, band-pass filters, duplexers, and multiplexers. XBARs are well suited for use in filters for communications bands with frequencies above 3 GHz.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 includes a schematic plan view, two schematic cross-sectional views, and a detail view of a transversely-excited film bulk acoustic resonator (XBAR).

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a band-pass filter using acoustic resonators.

FIG. 3A is a schematic block diagram of a band-pass filter using XBARs with shared acoustic tracks.

FIG. 3B is a schematic plan view of the band-pass filter of FIG. 3A.

FIG. 4A is a schematic block diagram of another band-pass filter using XBARs with shared acoustic tracks.

FIG. 4B is a schematic plan diagram of the band-pass filter of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing magnitude of input/output transfer function versus frequency for band-pass filters with shared acoustic tracks.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a method for fabricating a filter with XBAR with shared acoustic tracks.

Throughout this description, elements appearing in figures are assigned three-digit or four-digit reference designators, where the two least significant digits are specific to the element and the one or two most significant digit is the figure number where the element is first introduced. An element that is not described in conjunction with a figure may be presumed to have the same characteristics and function as a previously-described element having the same reference designator.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Description of Apparatus

FIG. 1 shows a simplified schematic top view and orthogonal cross-sectional views of an XBAR 100. XBAR-type resonators such as the XBAR 100 may be used in a variety of RF filters including band-reject filters, band-pass filters, duplexers, and multiplexers.

The XBAR 100 is made up of a thin film conductor pattern formed on a surface of a piezoelectric plate 110 having parallel front and back surfaces 112, 114, respectively. The piezoelectric plate is a thin single-crystal layer of a piezoelectric material such as lithium niobate, lithium tantalate, lanthanum gallium silicate, gallium nitride, or aluminum nitride. The piezoelectric plate is cut such that the orientation of the X, Y, and Z crystalline axes with respect to the front and back surfaces is known and consistent. The piezoelectric plate may be Z-cut, which is to say the Z axis is normal to the front and back surfaces 112, 114. The piezoelectric plate may be ZY-cut, rotated Y-cut, rotated Z-cut or rotated YX-cut. XBARs may be fabricated on piezoelectric plates with other crystallographic orientations.

The back surface 114 of the piezoelectric plate 110 is attached to a surface of a substrate 120 except for a portion of the piezoelectric plate 110 that forms a diaphragm 115 spanning a cavity 140 formed in the substrate. The portion of the piezoelectric plate that spans the cavity is referred to herein as the “diaphragm” 115 due to its physical resemblance to the diaphragm of a microphone. As shown in FIG. 1, the diaphragm 115 is contiguous with the rest of the piezoelectric plate 110 around all of a perimeter 145 of the cavity 140. In this context, “contiguous” means “continuously connected without any intervening item”. In other configurations, the diaphragm 115 may be contiguous with the piezoelectric plate around at least 50% of the perimeter 145 of the cavity 140.

The substrate 120 provides mechanical support to the piezoelectric plate 110. The substrate 120 may be, for example, silicon, sapphire, quartz, or some other material or combination of materials. The back surface 114 of the piezoelectric plate 110 may be attached to the substrate 120 using a wafer bonding process. Alternatively, the piezoelectric plate 110 may be grown on the substrate 120 or attached to the substrate in some other manner. The piezoelectric plate 110 may be attached directly to the substrate or may be attached to the substrate 120 via one or more intermediate material layers (not shown in FIG. 1).

“Cavity” has its conventional meaning of “an empty space within a solid body.” The cavity 140 may be a hole completely through the substrate 120 (as shown in Section A-A and Section B-B) or a recess in the substrate 120 under the diaphragm 115. The cavity 140 may be formed, for example, by selective etching of the substrate 120 before or after the piezoelectric plate 110 and the substrate 120 are attached.

The conductor pattern of the XBAR 100 includes an interdigital transducer (IDT) 130. The IDT 130 includes a first plurality of parallel fingers, such as finger 136, extending from a first busbar 132 and a second plurality of fingers extending from a second busbar 134. The term “busbar” means a conductor from which the fingers of an IDT extend. The first and second pluralities of parallel fingers are interleaved. The interleaved fingers overlap for a distance AP, commonly referred to as the “aperture” of the IDT. The center-to-center distance L between the outermost fingers of the IDT 130 is the “length” of the IDT.

The first and second busbars 132, 134 serve as the terminals of the XBAR 100. A radio frequency or microwave signal applied between the two busbars 132, 134 of the IDT 130 excites a primary acoustic mode within the piezoelectric plate 110. The primary acoustic mode is a bulk shear mode where acoustic energy propagates along a direction substantially orthogonal to the surface of the piezoelectric plate 110, which is also normal, or transverse, to the direction of the electric field created by the IDT fingers. Thus, the XBAR is considered a transversely-excited film bulk wave resonator.

The IDT 130 is positioned on the piezoelectric plate 110 such that at least the fingers of the IDT 130 are disposed on the diaphragm 115 that spans, or is suspended over, the cavity 140. As shown in FIG. 1, the cavity 140 has a rectangular shape with an extent greater than the aperture AP and length L of the IDT 130. A cavity of an XBAR may have a different shape, such as a regular or irregular polygon. The cavity of an XBAR may be more or fewer than four sides, which may be straight or curved.

For ease of presentation in FIG. 1, the geometric pitch and width of the IDT fingers are greatly exaggerated with respect to the length (dimension L) and aperture (dimension AP) of the XBAR. A typical XBAR has more than ten parallel fingers in the IDT 130. An XBAR may have hundreds, possibly thousands, of parallel fingers in the IDT 130. Similarly, the thicknesses of the IDT fingers and the piezoelectric plate in the cross-sectional views are greatly exaggerated.

Referring now to the detailed schematic cross-sectional view (Detail C), a front-side dielectric layer 150 (or coating) may optionally be formed on the front side of the piezoelectric plate 110. The “front side” of the XBAR is, by definition, the surface facing away from the substrate. The front-side dielectric layer 150 may be formed only between the IDT fingers (e.g. IDT finger 138 b) or may be deposited as a blanket layer such that the dielectric layer is formed both between and over the IDT fingers (e.g. IDT finger 138 a). The front-side dielectric layer 150 may be a non-piezoelectric dielectric material, such as silicon dioxide, alumina, or silicon nitride. A thickness of the front side dielectric layer 150 is typically less than about one-third of the thickness tp of the piezoelectric plate 110. The front-side dielectric layer 150 may be formed of multiple layers of two or more materials. In some applications, a back-side dielectric layer (not shown) may be formed on the back side of the piezoelectric plate 110.

The IDT fingers 138 a, 138 b may be one or more layers of aluminum, an aluminum alloy, copper, a copper alloy, beryllium, gold, tungsten, molybdenum, chromium, titanium or some other conductive material. The IDT fingers are considered to be “substantially aluminum” if they are formed from aluminum or an alloy comprising at least 50% aluminum. The IDT fingers are considered to be “substantially copper” if they are formed from copper or an alloy comprising at least 50% copper. Thin (relative to the total thickness of the conductors) layers of metals such as chromium or titanium may be formed under and/or over and/or as layers within the fingers to improve adhesion between the fingers and the piezoelectric plate 110 and/or to passivate or encapsulate the fingers and/or to improve power handling. The busbars (132, 134 in FIG. 1) of the IDT may be made of the same or different materials as the fingers.

Dimension p is the center-to-center spacing or “pitch” of the IDT fingers, which may be referred to as the pitch of the IDT and/or the pitch of the XBAR. Dimension m is the width or “mark” of the IDT fingers. The geometry of the IDT of an XBAR differs substantially from the IDTs used in surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators. In a SAW resonator, the pitch of the IDT is one-half of the acoustic wavelength at the resonance frequency. Additionally, the mark-to-pitch ratio of a SAW resonator IDT is typically close to 0.5 (i.e. the mark or finger width is about one-fourth of the acoustic wavelength at resonance). In an XBAR, the pitch p of the IDT may be 2 to 20 times the width m of the fingers. The pitch p is typically 3.3 to 5 times the width m of the fingers. In addition, the pitch p of the IDT may be 2 to 20 times the thickness of the piezoelectric plate 210. The pitch p of the IDT is typically 5 to 12.5 times the thickness of the piezoelectric plate 210. The width m of the IDT fingers in an XBAR is not constrained to be near one-fourth of the acoustic wavelength at resonance. For example, the width of XBAR IDT fingers may be 500 nm or greater, such that the IDT can be readily fabricated using optical lithography. The thickness of the IDT fingers may be from 100 nm to about equal to the width m. The thickness of the busbars (132, 134) of the IDT may be the same as, or greater than, the thickness of the IDT fingers.

FIG. 2 is a schematic circuit diagram and layout for a high frequency band-pass filter 200 using XBARs. The filter 200 has a conventional ladder filter architecture including three series resonators 210A, 210B, 210C and two shunt resonators 220A, 220B. The three series resonators 210A, 210B, and 210C are connected in series between a first port and a second port (hence the term “series resonator”). In FIG. 2, the first and second ports are labeled “In” and “Out”, respectively. However, the filter 200 is bidirectional and either port may serve as the input or output of the filter. The two shunt resonators 220A, 220B are connected from nodes between the series resonators to ground. A filter may contain additional reactive components, such as capacitors and/or inductors, not shown in FIG. 2. All the shunt resonators and series resonators are XBARs. The inclusion of three series and two shunt resonators is exemplary. A filter may have more or fewer than five total resonators, more or fewer than three series resonators, and more or fewer than two shunt resonators. Typically, all of the series resonators are connected in series between an input and an output of the filter. All of the shunt resonators are typically connected between ground and one of the input, the output, or a node between two series resonators.

In the exemplary filter 200, the three series resonators 210A, B, C and the two shunt resonators 220A, B of the filter 200 are formed on a single plate 230 of piezoelectric material bonded to a silicon substrate (not visible). In some filters, the series resonators and shunt resonators may be formed on different plates of piezoelectric material. Each resonator includes a respective IDT (not shown), with at least the fingers of the IDT disposed over a cavity in the substrate. In this and similar contexts, the term “respective” means “relating things each to each”, which is to say with a one-to-one correspondence. In FIG. 2, the cavities are illustrated schematically as the dashed rectangles (such as the rectangle 235). In this example, each IDT is disposed over a respective cavity. In other filters, the IDTs of two or more resonators may be disposed over a single cavity.

Each of the resonators 210A, 210B, 210C, 220A, 220B in the filter 200 has resonance where the admittance of the resonator is very high and an anti-resonance where the admittance of the resonator is very low. The resonance and anti-resonance occur at a resonance frequency and an anti-resonance frequency, respectively, which may be the same or different for the various resonators in the filter 200. In over-simplified terms, each resonator can be considered a short-circuit at its resonance frequency and an open circuit at its anti-resonance frequency. The input-output transfer function will be near zero at the resonance frequencies of the shunt resonators and at the anti-resonance frequencies of the series resonators. In a typical filter, the resonance frequencies of the shunt resonators are positioned below the lower edge of the filter's passband and the anti-resonance frequencies of the series resonators are positioned above the upper edge of the passband. In some filters, a front-side dielectric layer (also called a “frequency setting layer”), represented by the dot-dash rectangle 270, may be formed on the shunt resonators to set the resonance frequencies of the shunt resonators lower relative to the resonance frequencies of the series resonators. In other filters, the diaphragms of series resonators may be thinner than the diaphragms of shunt resonators. In some filters, the series resonators and the shunt resonators may be fabricated on separate chips having different piezoelectric plate thicknesses.

As seen in FIG. 2, acoustic resonators of a ladder filter are typically acoustically isolated and electrically coupled. For example, the acoustic resonators of the ladder filter are acoustically isolated when each resonator has a respective diaphragm and resonators do not share diaphragms. In this example, the interleaved fingers of the IDT of one resonator are on one diaphragm, and the interleaved fingers of the IDT of another resonator are on another diaphragm. The resonators in this example do not share an acoustic track because the resonators have separate diaphragms and are not acoustically coupled. Because each resonator requires a dedicated space for a diaphragm, the ladder filter has a relatively large footprint. If the resonators shared diaphragms, the footprint of the ladder filter could be comparatively small.

FIG. 3A is a schematic block diagram of a band-pass filter 300 using XBARs where some of the resonators share an acoustic track. FIG. 3B is a schematic plan view of the band-pass filter 300 of FIG. 3A. This exemplary Acoustic Coupled Ladder (ACL) filter 300 has a ladder filter architecture including four series resonators 310A, 310B, 310C, 310D and four shunt resonators 320A, 320B, 320C, 320D. The four series resonators 310A, 310B, 310C, 310D are connected in series between a first port and a second port. In FIGS. 3A and 3B, the first and second ports are labeled “In” and “Out”, respectively, but the filter 300 is bidirectional and either port may serve as the input or output of the filter. In this example as shown in FIG. 3B, series resonator 310A has an unshared top busbar 381 and a bottom busbar 382 (as positioned relative to each other in the view of FIG. 3B) shared with series resonator 310B, electrically coupling them. Series resonator 310B has a top busbar 383 shared with series resonator 310C, electrically coupling them. Series resonator 310C has a bottom busbar 384 shared with series resonator 310D, electrically coupling them. Series resonator 310D also has an unshared top busbar 385.

In this exemplary ACL filter 300, two of the shunt resonators 320A, 320B are located above the series resonators 310A, 310B, 310C, 310D (as positioned relative to each other in the views of FIGS. 3A and 3B), and two of the shunt resonators 320C and 320D are located below the series resonators 320A, 320B, 320C, 320D. Couplings to ground (Gnd) are located at both the top and bottom of the filter 300 (as positioned relative to each other in the view of FIGS. 3A and 3B). Shunt resonator 320A is electrically connected between the upper ground and a node between series resonators 310B and 310C, and shunt resonator 320B is electrically connected between the upper ground and a node between series resonator 310D and port Out. As shown in FIG. 3B, shunt resonator 320A has an unshared bottom busbar 386 and a top busbar 387 shared with shunt resonator 320B, electrically coupling them. Shunt resonator 320B also has an unshared bottom busbar 388. Shunt resonator 320C is electrically connected between the lower ground and a node between series resonators 320A and 320B, and shunt resonator 320D is electrically connected between the lower ground and a node between series resonators 320C and 320D. Shunt resonator 320C has an unshared top resonator 389 and a bottom busbar 390 shared with shunt resonator 320D, electrically coupling them. Shunt resonator 320D also has an unshared top resonator 391.

A filter may contain additional reactive components, such as capacitors and/or inductors, not shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. All the shunt resonators and series resonators are XBARs. The inclusion of four series and four shunt resonators is exemplary. A filter may have more or fewer than eight total resonators, more or fewer than four series resonators, and more or fewer than four shunt resonators. Typically, all of the series resonators are electrically connected in series between an input and an output of the filter, and shunt resonators are electrically connected between a ground and a node between series resonators.

In the filter 300, the four series resonators 310A, 310B, 310C, 310D and the four shunt resonators 320A, 320B, 320C, 320D are formed on a single plate 330 of piezoelectric material bonded to a silicon substrate (not visible). Each resonator includes a respective IDT (not shown), with at least the interleaved fingers of the IDT disposed over a cavity in the substrate. In FIG. 3A, the cavities are illustrated schematically as the dashed rectangles. In this example, interleaved fingers of the IDTs of series resonators 310A, 310B, 310C, 310D are on one diaphragm over a single cavity 335. Because series resonators 310A, 310B, 310C, 310D are on one diaphragm, series resonators 310A, 310B, 310C, 310D are acoustically coupled and share an acoustic track. Further in this example, interleaved fingers of the IDTs of shunt resonators 320A, 320B are on one diaphragm over a single cavity 375. Because shunt resonators 320A, 320B are on one diaphragm, shunt resonators 320A, 320B are acoustically coupled and share an acoustic track. Also, interleaved fingers of the IDTs of shunt resonators 320C, 320D are on one diaphragm over a single cavity 370. Because shunt resonators 320C, 320D are on one diaphragm, shunt resonators 320C, 320D are acoustically coupled and share an acoustic track.

Because of the shared diaphragms, filter 300 can have a much smaller footprint due to saved space. For example, in a conventional ladder filter layout where each resonator has a unique diaphragm, the dimensions of the device are about 1680 microns by about 1480 microns. In a comparable ladder filter that instead has shared diaphragms, the dimensions of the filter are about 1650 microns by about 658 microns. The smaller footprint can result in reduced manufacturing costs and higher yields.

In some examples, there will be interactions between resonators with a shared acoustic track. If the IDTs are close, the interactions can be strong enough that the electrical response is affected. Positioning the IDTs sufficiently far apart (e.g., about 5 times pitch or about 20 microns) can

.

The ACL filter 300 of FIGS. 3A and 3B is merely exemplary, and other layouts with shared acoustic tracks are possible. For example, the series resonators may be split amongst two, three, four, or more diaphragms. In one example, two series resonators may be on one diaphragm and two other series resonators may be on another diaphragm. In another example, three series resonators may be on one diaphragm and another single series resonator may be on another diaphragm.

In another example, the shunt resonators may be spilt amongst two, three, four, or more diaphragms. In one example, all of the shunt resonators are on one diaphragm. In another example, three shunt resonators are on one diaphragm, and one shunt resonator is individually on another diaphragm.

ACL filters can have both multiple resonators on one diaphragm and single resonators on other diaphragms. For example, all of the series resonators may be on one diaphragm, while each shunt resonator is on individually on a diaphragm. In another, all of the shunt resonators may be on one diaphragm, while each series resonator is on individually on a diaphragm. Some series resonators may share a diaphragm and some series resonators may be individually on a diaphragm, while some shunt resonators may share a diaphragm and some shunt resonators may be individually on a diaphragm. ACL filters can have other numbers of series resonators and shunt resonators. In other examples, the device has other numbers of couplings to ground, such as one, three, four, or more.

FIG. 4A is a schematic block diagram of a band-pass filter 400 using XBARs where some of the resonators share an acoustic track. FIG. 4B is a schematic plan view of the band-pass filter 400 of FIG. 4A. This exemplary ACL filter 400 includes four series resonators 410A, 410B, 410C, 410D and eight shunt resonators 420A, 420B, 420C, 420D, 420E, 420F, 420G, 420H on a piezoelectric plate 430. The four series resonators 410A, 410B, 410C, 410D, are connected in series between a first port and a second port. In FIG. 4, the first and second ports are labeled “In” and “Out”, respectively, but the filter 400 is bidirectional and either port may serve as the input or output of the filter. In this example, series resonator 410A has an unshared left busbar 482 coupled to “In” and a right busbar 484 (as positioned relative to each other in the view of FIG. 4), shared with shunt resonators 420A and 420B, which electrically couples them to series resonator 410B. Shunt resonator 420A has a left busbar 481 coupled to ground, and shunt resonator 420B has a left busbar 483 coupled to ground. Series resonator 410B has a right busbar 487 shared with shunt resonators 420C and 420D, which electrically couples them to series resonator 410C. Shunt resonator 420C has a left busbar 485 coupled to ground, and shunt resonator 420D has a left busbar 487 coupled to ground. Series resonator 410C has a right busbar 490 shared with shunt resonators 420E and 420F, electrically coupling them to series resonator 410D. Shunt resonator 420E has a left busbar 488 coupled to ground, and shunt resonator 420F has a left busbar 489 coupled to ground. Series resonator 410D has a right busbar 493 shared with shunt resonators 420G and 420H, electrically coupling them to “Out”. Shunt resonator 420G has a left busbar 491 coupled to ground, and shunt resonator 420H has a left busbar 492 coupled to ground.

A filter may contain additional reactive components, such as capacitors and/or inductors, not shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. All the shunt resonators and series resonators are XBARs. The inclusion of four series and eight shunt resonators is exemplary. A filter may have more or fewer than twelve total resonators, more or fewer than four series resonators, and more or fewer than eight shunt resonators. Typically, all of the series resonators are electrically connected in series between an input and an output of the filter, and shunt resonators are electrically connected between a ground and a node between series resonators.

In the filter 400, each resonator includes a respective IDT, with at least the interleaved fingers of the IDT disposed over a cavity in the substrate. In FIG. 4, the cavities are illustrated schematically as the dashed rectangles. In this example, interleaved fingers of the IDTs of resonators 410A, 420A, and 420B are on one diaphragm over a single cavity 471. Because resonators 410A, 420A, and 420B are on one diaphragm, resonators 410A, 420A, and 420B are acoustically coupled and share an acoustic track. Interleaved fingers of the IDTs of resonators 410B, 420C, and 420D are on one diaphragm over a single cavity 472. Because resonators 410B, 420C, and 420D are on one diaphragm, resonators 410B, 420C, and 420D are acoustically coupled and share an acoustic track. Interleaved fingers of the IDTs of resonators 410C, 420E, and 420F are on one diaphragm over a single cavity 473. Because resonators 410C, 420E, and 420F are on one diaphragm, resonators 410C, 420E, and 420F are acoustically coupled and share an acoustic track. Interleaved fingers of the IDTs of resonators 410D, 420G, and 420H are on one diaphragm over a single cavity 474. Because resonators 410D, 420G, and 420H are on one diaphragm, resonators 410D, 420G, and 420H are acoustically coupled and share an acoustic track.

FIG. 5 is a graph 500 showing magnitude of the input/output transfer function versus frequency for two band-pass filters with shared acoustic tracks. Solid curve 510 shows the input/output transfer function for a conventional eight resonator ladder filter where each of the resonators is on a separate diaphragm. Dashed curve 520 shows the input/output transfer function for a ladder filter where some of the resonators share diaphragms as similarly described with respect to FIGS. 4A and 4B. The conventional filter related to curve 510 is approximately three times the size of the filter with shared diaphragms related to curve 520. The graph 500 shows that performance of the filters is similar, while the filter with shared diaphragms is much smaller and thus less costly.

Description of Methods

FIG. 6 is a simplified flow chart summarizing a process 600 for fabricating a filter device incorporating XBARs. Specifically, the process 600 is for fabricating a filter device including multiple XBARs, some of which may include a frequency setting dielectric or coating layer. The process 600 starts at 605 with a device substrate and a thin plate of piezoelectric material disposed on a sacrificial substrate. The process 600 ends at 695 with a completed filter device. The flow chart of FIG. 6 includes only major process steps. Various conventional process steps (e.g. surface preparation, cleaning, inspection, baking, annealing, monitoring, testing, etc.) may be performed before, between, after, and during the steps shown in FIG. 6.

While FIG. 6 generally describes a process for fabricating a single filter device, multiple filter devices may be fabricated simultaneously on a common wafer (consisting of a piezoelectric plate bonded to a substrate). In this case, each step of the process 600 may be performed concurrently on all of the filter devices on the wafer.

The flow chart of FIG. 6 captures three variations of the process 600 for making an XBAR which differ in when and how cavities are formed in the device substrate. The cavities may be formed at steps 610A, 610B, or 610C. Only one of these steps is performed in each of the three variations of the process 600.

The piezoelectric plate may typically be ZY-cut or rotated YX-cut lithium niobate. The piezoelectric plate may be some other material and/or some other cut. The device substrate may preferably be silicon. The device substrate may be some other material that allows formation of deep cavities by etching or other processing.

In one variation of the process 600, one or more cavities are formed in the device substrate at 610A, before the piezoelectric plate is bonded to the substrate at 615. A separate cavity may be formed for each resonator in a filter device. Also, the cavities can be shaped and formed such that two or more resonators can be on one diaphragm over one cavity. These resonators sharing a diaphragm are acoustically coupled on an acoustic track. The one or more cavities may be formed using conventional photolithographic and etching techniques. Typically, the cavities formed at 610A will not penetrate through the device substrate.

At 615, the piezoelectric plate is bonded to the device substrate. The piezoelectric plate and the device substrate may be bonded by a wafer bonding process. Typically, the mating surfaces of the device substrate and the piezoelectric plate are highly polished. One or more layers of intermediate materials, such as an oxide or metal, may be formed or deposited on the mating surface of one or both of the piezoelectric plate and the device substrate. One or both mating surfaces may be activated using, for example, a plasma process. The mating surfaces may then be pressed together with considerable force to establish molecular bonds between the piezoelectric plate and the device substrate or intermediate material layers.

At 620, the sacrificial substrate may be removed. For example, the piezoelectric plate and the sacrificial substrate may be a wafer of piezoelectric material that has been ion implanted to create defects in the crystal structure along a plane that defines a boundary between what will become the piezoelectric plate and the sacrificial substrate. At 620, the wafer may be split along the defect plane, for example by thermal shock, detaching the sacrificial substrate and leaving the piezoelectric plate bonded to the device substrate. The exposed surface of the piezoelectric plate may be polished or processed in some manner after the sacrificial substrate is detached.

A first conductor pattern, including IDTs and reflector elements of each XBAR, is formed at 645 by depositing and patterning one or more conductor layers on the front side of the piezoelectric plate. All or portions of the first conductor pattern may be over the coating layer formed at 625. The conductor layer may be, for example, aluminum, an aluminum alloy, copper, a copper alloy, or some other conductive metal. Optionally, one or more layers of other materials may be disposed below (i.e. between the conductor layer and the piezoelectric plate) and/or on top of the conductor layer. For example, a thin film of titanium, chrome, or other metal may be used to improve the adhesion between the conductor layer and the piezoelectric plate. A second conductor pattern of gold, aluminum, copper or other higher conductivity metal may be formed over portions of the first conductor pattern (for example the IDT bus bars and interconnections between the IDTs).

Each conductor pattern may be formed at 645 by depositing the conductor layer and, optionally, one or more other metal layers in sequence over the surface of the piezoelectric plate. The excess metal may then be removed by etching through patterned photoresist. The conductor layer can be etched, for example, by plasma etching, reactive ion etching, wet chemical etching, or other etching techniques.

Alternatively, each conductor pattern may be formed at 645 using a lift-off process. Photoresist may be deposited over the piezoelectric plate. and patterned to define the conductor pattern. The conductor layer and, optionally, one or more other layers may be deposited in sequence over the surface of the piezoelectric plate. The photoresist may then be removed, which removes the excess material, leaving the conductor pattern.

At 650, one or more frequency setting dielectric layer(s) may be formed by depositing one or more layers of dielectric material on the front side of the piezoelectric plate. For example, a dielectric layer may be formed over the shunt resonators to lower the frequencies of the shunt resonators relative to the frequencies of the series resonators. The one or more dielectric layers may be deposited using a conventional deposition technique such as physical vapor deposition, atomic layer deposition, chemical vapor deposition, or some other method. One or more lithography processes (using photomasks) may be used to limit the deposition of the dielectric layers to selected areas of the piezoelectric plate. For example, a mask may be used to limit a dielectric layer to cover only the shunt resonators.

At 655, a passivation/tuning dielectric layer is deposited over the piezoelectric plate and conductor patterns. The passivation/tuning dielectric layer may cover the entire surface of the filter except for pads for electrical connections to circuitry external to the filter. In some instantiations of the process 600, the passivation/tuning dielectric layer may be formed after the cavities in the device substrate are etched at either 610B or 610C.

In a second variation of the process 600, one or more cavities are formed in the back side of the device substrate at 610B. A separate cavity may be formed for each resonator in a filter device. Also, the cavities can be shaped and formed such that two or more resonators can be on one diaphragm over one cavity. These resonators sharing a diaphragm are acoustically coupled on an acoustic track. The one or more cavities may be formed using an anisotropic or orientation-dependent dry or wet etch to open holes through the back side of the device substrate to the piezoelectric plate. In this case, the resulting resonator devices will have a cross-section as shown in FIG. 1.

In a third variation of the process 600, one or more cavities in the form of recesses in the device substrate may be formed at 610C by etching the substrate using an etchant introduced through openings in the piezoelectric plate. A separate cavity may be formed for each resonator in a filter device. Also, the cavities can be shaped and formed such that two or more resonators can be on one diaphragm over one cavity. These resonators sharing a diaphragm are acoustically coupled on an acoustic track. The one or more cavities formed at 610C will not penetrate through the device substrate. For all cavity forming steps 610A, 610B, and 610C, the dimensions of the cavity will be formed with respect to the dimensions of the IDTs of the conductor pattern, as described above with respect to FIGS. 2, 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B, and 5.

Ideally, after the cavities are formed at 610B or 610C, most or all of the filter devices on a wafer will meet a set of performance requirements. However, normal process tolerances will result in variations in parameters such as the thicknesses of dielectric layer formed at 650 and 655, variations in the thickness and line widths of conductors and IDT fingers formed at 645, and variations in the thickness of the piezoelectric plate. These variations contribute to deviations of the filter device performance from the set of performance requirements.

To improve the yield of filter devices meeting the performance requirements, frequency tuning may be performed by selectively adjusting the thickness of the passivation/tuning layer deposited over the resonators at 655. The frequency of a filter device passband can be lowered by adding material to the passivation/tuning layer, and the frequency of the filter device passband can be increased by removing material to the passivation/tuning layer. Typically, the process 600 is biased to produce filter devices with passbands that are initially lower than a required frequency range but can be tuned to the desired frequency range by removing material from the surface of the passivation/tuning layer.

At 660, a probe card or other means may be used to make electrical connections with the filter to allow radio frequency (RF) tests and measurements of filter characteristics such as input-output transfer function. Typically, RF measurements are made on all, or a large portion, of the filter devices fabricated simultaneously on a common piezoelectric plate and substrate.

At 665, global frequency tuning may be performed by removing material from the surface of the passivation/tuning layer using a selective material removal tool such as, for example, a scanning ion mill as previously described. “Global” tuning is performed with a spatial resolution equal to or larger than an individual filter device. The objective of global tuning is to move the passband of each filter device towards a desired frequency range. The test results from 660 may be processed to generate a global contour map indicating the amount of material to be removed as a function of two-dimensional position on the wafer. The material is then removed in accordance with the contour map using the selective material removal tool.

At 670, local frequency tuning may be performed in addition to, or instead of, the global frequency tuning performed at 665. “Local” frequency tuning is performed with a spatial resolution smaller than an individual filter device. The test results from 660 may be processed to generate a map indicating the amount of material to be removed at each filter device. Local frequency tuning may require the use of a mask to restrict the size of the areas from which material is removed. For example, a first mask may be used to restrict tuning to only shunt resonators, and a second mask may be subsequently used to restrict tuning to only series resonators (or vice versa). This would allow independent tuning of the lower band edge (by tuning shunt resonators) and upper band edge (by tuning series resonators) of the filter devices.

After frequency tuning at 665 and/or 670, the filter device is completed at 675. Actions that may occur at 675 include forming bonding pads or solder bumps or other means for making connection between the device and external circuitry (if such pads were not formed at 645); excising individual filter devices from a wafer containing multiple filter devices; other packaging steps; and additional testing. After each filter device is completed, the process ends at 695.

Closing Comments

Throughout this description, the embodiments and examples shown should be considered as exemplars, rather than limitations on the apparatus and procedures disclosed or claimed. Although many of the examples presented herein involve specific combinations of method acts or system elements, it should be understood that those acts and those elements may be combined in other ways to accomplish the same objectives. With regard to flowcharts, additional and fewer steps may be taken, and the steps as shown may be combined or further refined to achieve the methods described herein. Acts, elements and features discussed only in connection with one embodiment are not intended to be excluded from a similar role in other embodiments.

As used herein, “plurality” means two or more. As used herein, a “set” of items may include one or more of such items. As used herein, whether in the written description or the claims, the terms “comprising”, “including”, “carrying”, “having”, “containing”, “involving”, and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of”, respectively, are closed or semi-closed transitional phrases with respect to claims. Use of ordinal terms such as “first”, “second”, “third”, etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements. As used herein, “and/or” means that the listed items are alternatives, but the alternatives also include any combination of the listed items. 

It is claimed:
 1. A filter device comprising: a first plurality of acoustic resonators comprising: at least one first series resonator; and at least one first shunt resonator, wherein the at least one first series resonator and the at least one first shunt resonator are acoustically coupled along a first shared acoustic track.
 2. The filter device of claim 1 further comprising: a piezoelectric plate comprising a first diaphragm; and a conductor pattern on the piezoelectric plate, the conductor pattern comprising a first plurality of interdigital transducers (IDTs) of respective ones of the at least one first series resonator and the at least one first shunt resonator, interleaved fingers of the first plurality of IDTs on the first diaphragm.
 3. The filter device of claim 2 further comprising a second plurality of acoustic resonators comprising at least one second series resonator and at least one second shunt resonator, wherein the piezoelectric plate comprises a second diaphragm, and wherein the conductor pattern comprises a second plurality of IDTs of respective ones of the at least one second series resonator and the at least one second shunt resonators, interleaved fingers of the second plurality of IDTs on the second diaphragm.
 4. The filter device of claim 3 further comprising a third plurality of acoustic resonators comprising at least one third series resonator and at least one third shunt resonator, wherein the piezoelectric plate comprises a third diaphragm, and wherein the conductor pattern comprises a third plurality of IDTs of respective ones of the at least one third series resonator and the at least one third shunt resonators, interleaved fingers of the third plurality of IDTs on the third diaphragm.
 5. The filter device of claim 4 further comprising a fourth plurality of acoustic resonators comprising at least one fourth series resonator and at least one fourth shunt resonator, wherein the piezoelectric plate comprises a fourth diaphragm, and wherein the conductor pattern comprises a fourth plurality of IDTs of respective ones of the at least one fourth series resonator and the at least one fourth shunt resonators, interleaved fingers of the fourth plurality of IDTs on the fourth diaphragm.
 6. The filter device of claim 5, wherein the at least one first series resonator comprises one first series resonator and the at least one first shunt resonator comprises two first shunt resonators, wherein the at least one second series resonator comprises one second series resonator and the at least one second shunt resonator comprises two second shunt resonators, wherein the at least one third series resonator comprises one third series resonator and the at least one third shunt resonator comprises two third shunt resonators, and wherein the at least one fourth series resonator comprises one fourth series resonator and the at least one fourth shunt resonator comprises two fourth shunt resonators.
 7. The filter device of claim 6, wherein the one first series resonator is between the two first shunt resonators on the first diaphragm, wherein the one second series resonator is between the two second shunt resonators on the second diaphragm, wherein the one third series resonator is between the two third shunt resonators on the third diaphragm, and wherein the one fourth series resonator is between the two fourth shunt resonators on the fourth diaphragm.
 8. The filter device of claim 2, wherein a primary shear acoustic mode is excited by respective IDTs of the first plurality of IDTs in the piezoelectric plate.
 9. The filter device of claim 8, wherein the shear primary acoustic mode is excited in response to a radio frequency signal applied to the respective IDTs.
 10. The filter device of claim 2, wherein the piezoelectric plate is lithium niobate.
 11. A method of fabricating a filter device comprising: forming a first plurality of acoustic resonators, wherein the forming the first plurality of acoustic resonators comprises: forming at least one first series resonator; and forming at least one first shunt resonator, wherein the at least one first series resonator and the at least one first shunt resonator are acoustically coupled along a second shared acoustic track.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the forming the first plurality of acoustic resonators comprises forming a conductor pattern on a piezoelectric plate, wherein the piezoelectric plate comprises a first diaphragm, and wherein the conductor pattern comprises a first plurality of interdigital transducers (IDTs) of respective ones of the at least one first series resonator and the at least one first shunt resonator, interleaved fingers of the first plurality of IDTs on the first diaphragm.
 13. The method of claim 12 further comprising forming a second plurality of acoustic resonators comprising at least one second series resonator and at least one second shunt resonator, wherein the piezoelectric plate comprises a second diaphragm, and wherein the conductor pattern comprises a second plurality of IDTs of respective ones of the at least one second series resonator and the at least one second shunt resonators, interleaved fingers of the second plurality of IDTs on the second diaphragm.
 14. The method of claim 13 further comprising forming a third plurality of acoustic resonators comprising at least one third series resonator and at least one third shunt resonator, wherein the piezoelectric plate comprises a third diaphragm, and wherein the conductor pattern comprises a third plurality of IDTs of respective ones of the at least one third series resonator and the at least one third shunt resonators, interleaved fingers of the third plurality of IDTs on the third diaphragm.
 15. The method of claim 14 further comprising forming a fourth plurality of acoustic resonators comprising at least one fourth series resonator and at least one fourth shunt resonator, wherein the piezoelectric plate comprises a fourth diaphragm, and wherein the conductor pattern comprises a fourth plurality of IDTs of respective ones of the at least one fourth series resonator and the at least one fourth shunt resonators, interleaved fingers of the fourth plurality of IDTs on the fourth diaphragm.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one first series resonator comprises one first series resonator and the at least one first shunt resonator comprises two first shunt resonators, wherein the at least one second series resonator comprises one second series resonator and the at least one second shunt resonator comprises two second shunt resonators, wherein the at least one third series resonator comprises one third series resonator and the at least one third shunt resonator comprises two third shunt resonators, and wherein the at least one fourth series resonator comprises one fourth series resonator and the at least one fourth shunt resonator comprises two fourth shunt resonators.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the one first series resonator is between the two first shunt resonators on the first diaphragm, wherein the one second series resonator is between the two second shunt resonators on the second diaphragm, wherein the one third series resonator is between the two third shunt resonators on the third diaphragm, and wherein the one fourth series resonator is between the two fourth shunt resonators on the fourth diaphragm.
 18. The method of claim 12, wherein a primary shear acoustic mode is excited by respective IDTs of the first plurality of IDTs in the piezoelectric plate.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the shear primary acoustic mode is excited in response to a radio frequency signal applied to the respective IDTs.
 20. The method of claim 12, wherein the piezoelectric plate is lithium niobate. 